Miami was among 35 cities queried by the U.S. Olympic Committee on Tuesday to gauge interest in hosting the 2024 Olympics.
A letter from USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun was sent to the mayors of the country’s 25 largest cities plus 10 others, including Miami, Orlando and Jacksonville, five cities in California and four in Texas.
Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz said the county already has drawn up a resolution in support of exploring an Olympic bid while weighing multibillion-dollar costs versus benefits.
“The Olympics is a very expensive endeavor, but we would be partners with the USOC,” Diaz said. “We have a lot of the infrastructure and venues. We’ve hosted 10 Super Bowls. We would have to analyze what it would mean to citizens, taxpayers and business people.
“If the community isn’t behind it 100 percent, don’t go for it. In the meantime, we keep an open mind.”
A U.S. city has not hosted the Summer Games since Atlanta in 1996 nor any Olympics since Salt Lake City staged the Winter Games in 2002. The most recent bids by the United States — Chicago and New York — were rejected by International Olympic Committee voters after each city spent more than $10 million on the bid process.
















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